Refrigerator-car.



Patented Feb. 27, 900.-

' .1. ZDB'RIST v REFRIGERATOR CAR.

(Application filed Apr. 6, 1899.)

(No Model.)

110: HOME PETERS cg. moTo-u'rna, vqnsuma'rom D. c.

UNiTED STAT S PATENT OFFICE,

JOHN ZOBRIST, OF HANFORD, CALIFORNIA, ASSIGNOR, BY DIRECT AND MESNEASSIGNMENTS, TO THE JOHN ZOBRIST REFRIGERATOR AND VENTILATOR COMPANY, OFSAME PLACE.

REFRIGERATOR-CAR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 644,268, dated February27, 1900.

Application filed April 6, 1899- Serial N0. 711,997. (No model.) I

To aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JOHN ZOBRIST, a citizen of the United States,residing at I-Ianford, county of Kings, State of California, haveinvented an Improvement in Refrigerator-Cars; and I hereby declare thefollowing to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same.

My invention relates to improvements in cars for the transportation ofperishable fruits and like goods.

It consists, essentially, in the parts and the constructions andcombinations of parts hereinafter described andclaimed.

Figure 1 is a Vertical longitudinal section through the center of a car.Fig. 2 is a cross section through the bottom portion of the same. Fig. 3is a View of a fruit-box used in connection with my car.

A is the body of the'car, which may be of any usual or suitabledescription, as my devices are easily applied to any car and aredesigned to be removable to the extent of restoring the car to itsordinary uses whenever desired. 7

In each end of the car is formed a vertical box B, and centrally withinthis box is a chamber formed bya coarse-meshed wire screen C. Thesechambers are preferably made rectangular and of sucha size as to receiveblocks of ice, which are let down into them through openings in theroof, which are afterward closed by hermetically sealing doors D. Aroundthe ice-chamber C is an annular space E, the exterior wall of whichconsists of an open-meshed fabric, and between this fabric and the outerwall of the box or casing B is a space F, which is filled with salt,lime, or other substance which will absorb moisture. The lower end ofthe ice-containing chamber is of concave form, so that the water fromthe melting ice will be received therein, and by means of a drain-pipeG, having a trap at G, this water is discharged as fast as it may beformed.

Between the lower ends of the vertical boxes or casings B extends aframework consisting of horizontally-disposed boards H,having supportinglegs or brackets I at intervals, and the boards H are also separated, soas to form a central open channel between them from one end to the otherof the car. There are no sides to this structure, and it is made indesirable to clear the bottom of the car for use for transporting otherg0ods.

The lower ends of the chambers B have circular openings directly intothe space beneath the boards H, and within these openings are fan-wheelsJ, which are driven by mechanism to be hereinafter described, so astodraw the air continually through the passages E around the ice-containing chamber and to deliver it into the passage formed beneath the boardsH.

The top of the car has a lining K, which is preferably made of sheetmetal and extends from side to side, where it is suitably fastened, andfrom the ends, where it connects with the air-passages around theice-chambers, toward the center,where there is an open space. Thedistance between this lining and the top of the car is suificient toallow air to move freely through it, and'the air which is driven by thefans J through the passage formed along the central bottom of the car isdischarged through the contents of the car, finding its way to the top,and it passes out through the openingL into the passages above thelinings K, thence returns in each direction to the ice-chambers, beingthus constantly circulated as long as the fans are in motion. Thesurrounding bodies of salt or other moisture-absorbing substance serveto keep the air in a dry condition, and the floor of the car in thecentral passage beneath the boards H may also be coated with unslakedlime, which assists in removing the moisture from the air, so that as itpasses up through the contents of the car it does not deposit moisturetherein.

Where the car is designed for the shipment of fruit, the boards H areset at suchaheight from the floor that one or two rows of fruitboxes setupon each side form a closure for the channel. The height of the boardsH from the floor of the car is such thatthe succeeding rows of boxes maybe piled across and over this channel and the car then filled up withthe boxes. A narrow space is left between the central row of boxes, thisspace 00- inciding with the channel h, which is left between the boardsII, and, as the boxes are all made with cleats a across the ends, whenpiled there would be sufficient space between the rows of boxes for afree circulation of the air which is forced into the car by therevolving fans J. The whole of the contents of the car will thus besubjected to the action of the cooled and dry air.

In order to reduce the circulation of air, I have shown a pumpingmechanism consisting of cylinders O, the pistons of which are 0011*nected with cranks upon the shaft I. This shaft has upon it africtionalwheel Q, which contacts with a corresponding driving-wheel R, fixed uponthe car-axle S. The journalboxes of the crank-shaf t P are slidable inguides, so that the shaft and its roller Q may be raised out of contactwith the roller B when it is desired to stop the operation of the pumpsand lowered into contact again when it is desired to continue theoperation. The shaft P passes through a framework or hanger T, which isconnected with a plunger or piston within a cylinder U, and by means ofa pipe V, leading from the compressed-air cylinder, when the compressionin said cylinder has reached the desired degree it will act to raise thepiston in the cylinder U, and thus disengage the pulley or roller Q fromthe driver R on the car-axle, when the pumps will stop until thepressure has again become reduced sufficiently to allow the pulleys toagain co [no in contact. The air pumped by the pistons and the cylindersO is delivered into a receiver W, within which it maybe compressed toany desired degree, limited, as previously described, by the mechanismby which the driving-pulley is thrown out of action. From the receiver Wa pipe X leads to each end of the car, and in a passage in the end ofthe car is located a motor-wheel Y, which is mounted upon the same shaftwith the fan J, so that the air passing through the motor or propellerwheel Y will rotate the fan J and create a circulation. The air thusadmitted .when it escapes from the motor Y passes into the circulationof the car, and thus keeps up a supply of air to compensate for anyleakage or loss through cracks or openings in the car; but the main bodyof air is continually circulated within the car without any accessionsfrom the outside except such as has already passed through the pumps andinto the receiver W', so that no dust or exterior hot air will bedelivered into the car at all. As the temperature of the air is verylittle raised by its passage through the body of the car after it hasonce been reduced to the desired degree, it will be seen that the actionof this return air upon the ice will not melt the latter with any greatrapidity, and I am therefore enabled to operate my apparatus with a verymuch smaller quantity of ice than under the usual conditions where iceis used in refrigerator-cars.

I have here described an ail-forcing mechsource under the control of theengineer or other trainman.

Having thus described my invention,what I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a refrigerating-car, vertically-disposed ice-chambers at oppositeends of the car, hermetically-closing doors in the roof through whichice may be lowered into said chambers open-work walls surrounding theice-chainbers, an annular air-passage exterior thereto, a second open ornet work wall outside of said air-chamber,a body of salt packed in thespace exterior to said network wall and between it and an outer closedcasing, a lining extending across the top of the car and from end to endthereof forming a passage between it and the roof having a centralopening communi eating with the body of the car and openings at the endscommunicating with the air-passages surrounding the ice-chamber, apassage formed along the center of the floor of the car around and overwhich the boxes are packed,

openings between the opposite ends of said passage and the lower ends ofthe refrigerating air-chambers at the ends of the car, fans revoluble insaid openings and mechanism whereby they are driven to cause acirculation of air through the refrigerating-chambers and the body ofthe car.

2. A refrigerator-car having vertically-disposed refrigerating chambersat opposite ends, boards extending longitudinally along the car andhaving spaced legs or brackets by which they are supported above thecar-floor to form a longitudinal air-passage open at the sides, saidboards also separated along their inner edges to form a central openchannel between them and said boards and legs removable to permit accessto the floor beneath, and means for forcing air through said passage andthe refrigerating-chambers.

3. A refrigerator-car having boxes at each end, ice-chambers interior tosaid boxes and separated therefrom to form an air-passage, a filling ofsalt surrounding the air-passage, a longitudinal,open-sided air-passagealong the floor of the car and formed of longitudinal boards separatedalong their longitudinal edges, a packing of moisture-absorbing materialin the longitudinal passage beneath the boards said boards removable togive access to said packing, an air-passage along the upper part of thecar and means for forcing air through said passages.

4. A refrigerator-car having an air-passage centrally along its bottomand containing a packing of moisture-absorbing material, said passageformed of sections including longitudinal boards and supports, andremovable to give access to the bottom of the car and thefilling,ice-chambers in the ends of the car and surrounded bymoisture-absorbing material, and an air-passage in the upper part of thecar and connecting with passages surrounding the ice-chambers, a fandisposed in each end of the longitudinal passage for forcing the airfrom each end toward the center of the car and circulating the airthrough said passages, and means for operating the fans by compressedair.

5. A refrigerator-car having vertically-disposed refrigeratingchambersat opposite ends and containing moisture-absorbing material, anair-distributing channel along the floor of the car also containing saidmaterial, return-passages adjacent to the roof of the car, horizontalshafts under each refrigerating-chamber, fan-wheels at the ends of thedistributing-channel and fixed to the inner ends of the shafts,motor-wheels on the outer ends of said shafts, an air-compressingmechanism including a storage reservoir and closed passages from saidreservoir and opening into the car proximate to the motor-wheels wherebythe latter are driven and in turn drive the fans.

6. In an apparatus of the character described, a car havingVertically-disposed ref ri geratiu g-chambers containingmoisture-absorbing material, an air-distributing channel along the floorof the car and also containing said material,return-passages adjacent tothe roof of the car, fan-wheels in the distributingchannel and meanswhereby said wheels are driven including compressed-air cylinders, pumpcylinders with pistons reciprocating therein and connecting with cranksupon a crank-shaft, a driving-wheel fixed upon the car-axle and a secondwheel adapted to contact therewith fixed upon the crank-shaft, a framewithin which the crank-shaft is journaled, a cylinder having a plungermovable therein upon which said frame is suspended and a pipe connectingsaid cylinder with the compression-receiver whereby the pressuretherefrom acts upon the plunger to raise the journal-frame andcrank-shaft and disengage the contact-pulleys to stop the pumps.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand.

JOHN ZOBRIST.

Witnesses: I

S. H. NOURSE, JEssIE C. Bnonin.

